The Devil and his Army

Sermon 39 on The Song of Songs

"To
my company of horsemen amid Pharaoh's chariots have I likened you, O
my love." For a start we are free to infer from these words
that the Fathers prefigured the Church, and that the mysteries of our
salvation were foreshown to them. The grace of baptism that both
saves men and washes sins away, is clearly expressed in the exodus of
Israel from Egypt, when the sea performed that twofold marvel of
service in providing a passage for the people and taking vengeance on
their enemies. "Our fathers were all under the cloud," said
St Paul, "and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in
the sea." ...